Ruling on Wednesday, that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was unlawful, the U.S. Court of Appeals, for the Fifth Circuit, dealt a blow to President Joe Biden’s administration. It held that DACA was unlawfully enacted because it did not undergo the notice and comment procedure, required by the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). Fifth Circuit Chief Judge Priscilla Richman wrote-
“DACA created a detailed, streamlined process for granting enormously significant, predefined benefits to over 800,000 people,”. “This constitutes a substantive rule. Because DACA did not undergo notice and comment, it violates the procedural requirements of the APA.”
- New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit Court
The three-judge panel remanded the case back to U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen’s court, in light of a recently enacted Biden administration regulation, despite the fact that they had determined DACA was unlawful. Richman Said-
“A district court is in the best position to review the administrative record in the rulemaking proceeding.”
- New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit Court
Set to take place on October 31st, The new Biden regulation on DACA, issued in August, is similar to former President Barack Obama’s 2012 memo that created DACA, except Biden’s regulation was subject to public comments as part of the rulemaking process.
Because it rewrites immigration law without Congress, which would be what is called a substantive violation of the APA, Republican challengers say that DACA is illegal, even with notice and comment, making the new Biden version of DACA also able to be invalidated as illegal.
Siding with conservative states, who challenged DACA, Judge Hanen ruled that Obama unlawfully implemented the program, and he will now likewise examine the new program before it is scheduled to take effect.
The New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit Court, following Judge Hanen’s ruling, allowed existing DACA recipients to continue receiving federal benefits, while Hanen is still reviewing the new regulations, but prohibited the program from accepting new applicants.
Explaining that, the three-judge panel, including Judge James Ho, an outspoken textualist and originalist, essentially a constitutional conservative, was not able to render a final definitive judgment, because DHS’s administrative record, was not included in the package sent up to the appeals court for review. The court instructed Hanen to examine that administrative record so that he could render such a final opinion as soon as possible.
Because Biden’s’ DACA regulations are scheduled to take effect October 31, the court instructed that-
“those issues of law should be resolved sooner rather than later to move this case forward as expeditiously as possible,”
- New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit Court
This current ruling with instructions gives Hanen enough time to block the new program with an injunction, and then for the Fifth Circuit to take up a comprehensive review for a final disposition.
It would seem that the courts have finally ruled that Obama and now hopefully, Biden have largely gone around Congress’s authority on immigration reform, to set up an illegal program that has kept a vast number of hopeful illegal immigrants here in the U.S. all with tax-payer funding. It’s hard to believe justice is slow and costly – but at least they put the court has finally put their foot down. Congress alone needs to formally address this.
Far from over, the DACA program has been open to new applicants since it’s inception under Obama. Now that the application process has been halted, hopefully, Haden will block the new program as well, so the Fifth Circuit Court can do its job finally – finding the whole program unconstitutional. This matter, can then rightfully be taken up by congress as it should be.
Thank God for the insights of America’s founding fathers who likely saw this and many of the other issues before us. In the U.S. Constitution, they established a brilliant system of checks and balances that all of Government must live by. It exists to protect America not just regulate it.
Hopefully, in the months to come, many such road-blocks will be possible, clearing the way for America to clearly stave off the progressive leftist agenda that seeks to force this nation into its own brand of socialism. And though it will be tough going, hopefully the America people will see the benefit of needed change, from the decimation of the last two years as this nation seeks to swing a 180-degree shift, before it’s too late.
"Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake."
-Victor Hugo